Broker tips: Lloyds, Vodafone, Pace

Deutsche Bank has named Lloyds as its "top pick" in the UK banking sector ahead of the first-quarter reporting season, saying that operating conditions across the sector have been good over the start of 2015."Lloyds is our top pick, Barclays offers material valuation upside, Standard Chartered is a 'sell'. HSBC and RBS are 'holds'."The next 12 months will be a "year of inflection" for Vodafone, according to Goldman Sachs which predicts a return to organic growth at the telecoms giant. The bank kept a 'buy' rating.After seven years of profit declines, it expects Vodafone's European margins to finally stabilise in the year to March 2016 has forecast organic sales to rise around 2%.A £1.4bn takeover offer from US group Arris for Pace has prompted Numis Securities to remove its 'sell' rating on UK set-top box maker.The broker lifted its stance to 'hold' and hiked its target price from 280p to 443p, saying it sees little chance of the deal falling through.